1. Field
The present invention is related to systems and methods for conducting business transactions using networked computers. Furthermore, this invention relates to communicating a potential customer's purchase request to a seller and a seller managing such purchase requests.
2. Description of the Related Art
The global economy has made the business of selling more competitive than ever. Businesses that do not maximize customer satisfaction and profitability may not survive in today's markets. Businesses are therefore demanding tools and methods to provide a competitive edge.
In a conventional vehicle sales scenario, a potential automobile purchaser initiates a purchasing process by visiting a dealership. The customer may make several preliminary visits before making his or her purchasing intent known to the dealer. Until the purchasing intent is revealed, the dealer acts inefficiently in attempting to consummate a customer purchase.
For example, the dealer maintains potentially unnecessary resources to handle the preliminary visits. Not knowing whether the potential customer intends to make a purchase, a large number of salespersons stand ready to confront all visitors to the dealership. However, many visits are preliminary and do not require the assistance of a salesperson. Accordingly, inefficiency is often experienced in such a conventional vehicle dealership setting.
Moreover, in the conventional vehicle dealership setting, namely, a car dealer, the salesperson works on a commission basis. The salesperson's income is directly related to a vehicle's sales price and the number of vehicle sales. Thus, the salesperson will want to be credited for the sale and earn the resulting commission. The conventional vehicle dealership setting may not foster efficient cooperation between the sales staff. Thus, the purchaser may experience frustration and unpleasantness with the purchasing experience.
For example, once a customer is approached by a salesperson, any resulting sale is credited to the salesperson. As far as the purchasing process, the salesperson may be the purchaser's sole dealership contact. The other sales staff may be reluctant to assist either the salesperson or the purchaser in consummating the sale. This inefficiency may ultimately result in customer frustration and a lost sale for the dealership. In this setting, the dealership operates inefficiently in processing the purchase request.
Multi-franchise dealerships are becoming common in today's vehicle marketplace. A multi-franchise dealership sells more than one make of vehicle from a single location and a single sales staff. With the multi-franchise dealer, not all members of the sales staff are equally knowledgeable and qualified to sell all vehicle makes sold by the dealership.
In the multi-franchise dealership, a purchaser looking for one make of vehicle may be approached by a salesperson less qualified to assist the purchaser in making the purchase of the desired vehicle than other salespersons in the same dealership. The salesperson may not possess the required product knowledge, or may be too busy to provide the necessary assistance. But, the lack of cooperation between the sales staff, inhibits the purchaser from receiving better assistance. Thus, customer satisfaction is not maximized, and the purchaser may experience unnecessary frustration. This results in dealership inefficiencies and potential lost sales.